§ 1410.42 - Annual rental payments.

§ 1410.42 Annual rental payments.

(a) Subject to the availability of funds, annual rental payments shall will be made in such amount and in accordance with such time schedule as may be agreed upon and specified in the CRP contract.

(b) Annual rental payments per acre include a payment are based on a weighted average soil rental rate, marginal pastureland rental rate, or grassland rate, as appropriate, and may include an incentive payment as a portion of the annual payment for certain practices, as determined by the Deputy Administrator. In addition, a national maximum annual specified practices. A per-acre national maximum rental payment rate may also be established by the Deputy Administrator CCC for certain categories of CRP offers and contracts.

(c) The annual rental payment will be divided among the participants on a single CRP contract as agreed to in such CRP contract.

(d) Limitations on annual rental payments include:

(1) The maximum amount of annual rental payments that a person or

legal

entity may receive, directly or indirectly, under CRP for any fiscal year must not exceed $50,000. The regulations in part 1400 of this chapter will be

applicable for determining whether

used to determine if the limit has been reached or exceeded.

(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (d)(1) of this section, annual rental payments received by a rural water district or association for land enrolled in CRP for the purpose of protecting a wellhead may exceed $50,000.

(e) In the case of a contract succession, annual rental payments will be divided between the predecessor and the successor participants as agreed to among the participants and approved by CCC. If there is no agreement among the participants, annual rental payments will be divided in such manner deemed appropriate by the Deputy Administrator CCC, and such distribution may be prorated based on the actual days of ownership of the property by each party.

(f) The Deputy Administrator CCC will prepare a schedule for each county that shows the maximum soil rental rate CCC may pay and which may be supplemented to reflect special contract requirements. As determined by the Deputy Administrator, such schedule will Such schedule may be calculated for cropland based on the relative productivity of soils within the county using NRCS data and local FSA average cash rental estimates. For marginal pastureland, rental rates will be based on estimates of the prevailing rental values of marginal pastureland in riparian areas. Grassland rental rates will be based on not more than 75 percent of the estimated grazing value of the land. The schedule will be available in the local FSA office and , as determined by the Deputy Administrator, will indicate, when appropriate, that:

(1) Offers of contracts by producers who request rental payments greater than the schedule maximum payment rate for their soil(s) offer will be rejected;

(2) Offers of contracts submitted under continuous signup authorized at § 1410.30(b) may be accepted without further evaluation when the requested rental payment rate is less than or equal to the calculated weighted soil rental rate, based on the three predominant soils listedmaximum payment rate for the offer; and

(3) Otherwise qualifying offers shall will be ranked competitively based on factors established under § 1410.31 of this part in order to provide the most cost-effective environmental benefits, as determined by the Deputy Administrator.

(g) Additional financial incentives may be provided to producers who offer contracts expected to provide especially high environmental benefits, as determined by the Deputy Administrator.

(h) CCC may make tree thinning incentive payments to owners and operators of enrolled land in an amount sufficient to encourage proper tree thinning and other practices to improve the condition of resources, promote forest management, or enhance wildlife habitat on the land, as determined by the Deputy Administrator. Incentive payments for tree thinning and other tree stand practices will:

(1) Not exceed 150 percent of the total cost of the practice, as determined by the Deputy Administrator; and

(2) Only be available for practices outlined in the tree planting plan under the approved CRP conservation plan.

[68 FR 24835, May 8, 2003, as amended at 74 FR 30912, June 29, 2009; 80 FR 42003, July 16, 2015]

In the case of an owner or operator who transfers acreage to a wetland reserve easement in accordance with § 1410.10, annual rental payments will be prorated based on the actual number of days the transferred acreage was enrolled in CRP.